BJP's internal survey predicts thumping victory for party

Survey conducted by the Citizen for Accountable Governance shows that the Bhartiya Janata Party will win 162 seats while Shiv Sena will bag only 59 seats in the state; Congress and NCP will bag 25 and 23 seats respectively while the MNS will win only 7 seats

A day before the results of the state assembly elections are declared, a survey conducted by the Citizen for Accountable Governance (CAG), a body that was formed by Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha elections, shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win 162 seats in Maharashtra. Members of the CAG claim that the number could vary by three to five per cent. According to party leaders, this is a vast improvement from the 125-135 mark that the BJP was hoping to achieve.

(Above and below) BJP workers at Lalbaug party office in a celebratory mood. FILE PHOTO

The survey states that the Shiv Sena will win 59 seats, while the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will bag 25 and 23 seats respectively. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will win merely seven seats while other smaller parties will score the other seats. The Maharashtra assembly comprises 288 seats. According to CAG’s report, the party’s city unit chief Ashish Shelar will lose the Bandra West constituency second time in a row to Baba Siddique from Congress.

A BJP leader, who worked on the survey, said on condition of anonymity, “The survey indicates what the public feels. In politics, things always swing at the last minute so we have kept a margin of three to five per cent.”

According to the survey, the BJP will win 13 seats in Mumbai while the Shiv Sena will win 11 seats. The Congress will bag six seats while the MNS will score five seats. The BJP is hoping for a bigger share of seats in Mumbai as it wants to gain control over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that is currently dominated by the Sena.

However, the other political parties in the fray have rubbished this survey. NCP’s spokesperson, Uday Pratap Singh, said, “We have three sitting MLAs in Mumbai but the survey shows that we won’t win a single seat, which is bizarre. We are confident that we will retain all three seats.” Shweta Parulekar, the Shiv Sena spokesperson, said, “I’m sure we will cross the three digit mark and be the number one party.”

Party workers in celebratory modeIt was a mood of celebration at BJP’s state headquarters opposite LIC building near Mantralaya on Saturday afternoon. At least 20 makeshift green rooms have been erected behind the office where senior party leaders will give their views and bytes to news channels.

Sunil Karjatkar, senior office bearer of the state BJP, said, “We are not ready to buy the figures of other surveys that say BJP will fall short of majority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a mammoth response while addressing public rallies at Pandharpur and Baramati. We are confident of getting a clear majority in the state assembly elections.”

“We would not require outside support to form the government,” said leader of opposition Eknath Khadse, a contender for the Chief Minister’s post.